2024 TT HealthWatch Archive

TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 20, 2024

This week's topics include electronic nudges for flu shots, reducing plaques in coronary arteries, electronic sepsis alerts, and managing cachexia in people with cancer.

0:40 Regression of atherosclerotic plaques
1:40 Statins or antibodies to lower cholesterol
2:41 Many respond to routine therapy
2:52 Electronic nudges for flu vaccination
3:52 Letter identifying risk
4:52 Received from Danish government
5:53 No domestic way to distribute
6:46 Cancer cachexia treatment
7:50 Change in body weight at 12 weeks
8:51 Sepsis screening in hospitalized patients
9:51 Alerts in about 15% of screening group
10:51 Identify organ dysfunction
12:13 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 13, 2024

This week's topics include lead exposure and mental disorders, assisted dying, depression treatment after positive screening in primary care, and chocolate and Type 2 diabetes.

1:07 Health benefits of chocolate consumption
2:05 Flavonoids more so in dark
3:06 What is the biological plausibility?
3:42 Depression treatment after positive screens in primary care
4:45 38% received meds or referral at screening
5:46 Great that screening is taking place
6:46 Medical assistance in dying
7:46 Looked at 20 jurisdictions
8:46 Canada has employed for some time
9:46 Access in all jurisdictions
10:05 Lead exposure in childhood and mental disorders
11:05 Assuming lead psychopathology associations
12:05 Extrapolated a lot of data
13:06 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 6, 2024

This week's topics include Medicare negotiation on drug price comparison, messaging to improve adherence to CVD medications, maternal cancer detection, and VILPA.

1:02 Incidental detection of maternal cancer
2:02 Have abnormal blood tests
3:04 Call into question what to do with the findings
3:50 Text messaging to improve adherence to CVD medications
4:51 Get generic reminders
5:50 Wide age range and conditions
6:50 Does help in some circumstances
7:26 Physical activity and cardiovascular events
8:26 Vigorous intermittent lifestyle activity or VILPA
9:30 U.K. Biobank population
10:30 At least some brief intermittent activity
10:44 U.S. drug prices under Medicare negotiation compared with peers
11:43 8 to 42% compared to before negotiation
12:43 Net spending reduced 22%
13:23 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 29, 2024

This week's topics include reducing the dose of pneumococcal vaccine, benefits of HPV vaccination, treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer, and suitability for treatment with obesity drugs.

0:36 Obesity drugs and contraindications
1:36 Who would be excluded in trials to evaluate?
2:36 Hard to keep all in mind when prescribing
3:20 Cervical cancer mortality in those 25 or younger
4:20 Reduction in death after HPV vaccination
5:27 Pneumococcal vaccination
6:27 Can we fractionate the dose and remain effective
7:27 Don't know if lower dose is durable
8:28 Done in healthy infants
8:48 Combination therapy for one form of colorectal cancer
9:48 Nivolumab plus ipilumimab
10:50 Outcome bad with chemotherapy
11:30 There are side effects
12:23 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 22, 2024

This week's topics include genetic testing of couples planning pregnancy, use of two medications in people who've had a heart attack, genome-wide association models and risk for cardiovascular disease, and two medicines to reduce lipoprotein(a).

0:40 Reducing lipoprotein(a)
1:40 Oral medicine prevents two components from binding
2:40 What proportion have this issue?
2:54 Polygenic risk scores and heart disease risk
3:54 Ended up with 46 scores
4:54 40-50% of risks involved with genes
5:56 Two medicines after heart attack
6:56 No benefit in all comers with heart attack
7:50 Nationwide genetic carrier screening
8:50 9107 couples completed
9:50 Wide number of diseases screened
10:50 Genetic counselor for those with increased risk
12:18 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 15, 2024

This week's topics include the impact of lipoprotein A, frailty as a predictor of dementia, a diabetes medicine in kidney stones and gout, and the impact of multiple chronic medical conditions on hospitalization and death.

0:40 Diabetes treatment, kidney stones, gout
1:40 To prevent kidney stones, need to treat 20
2:40 How do other diabetes meds compare?
3:42 Multi morbidity, hospital admission and death
4:42 Sort combinations to calculate risk
5:42 Inadequate resources in the winter
6:44 Person-centered approach needed
7:10 LDL not the whole story
8:10 Risk related to both LDL and Lp(a)
9:10 Recommend Lp(a) measurement
9:36 Frailty as a predictor of dementia
10:39 Risk varied from 20-75% increased risk
11:42 Number of factors to assess frailty
13:09 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 8, 2024

This week's topics include very early medication abortion, predicting who needs a defibrillator after MI, removal of IVC filters, and early sugar exposure, hypertension and diabetes.

0:40 Sugar rationing in first 1,000 days of life
1:41 Infant formula and solids
2:40 Divide in utero and post exposure
3:22 Sudden cardiac death after heart attack prediction
4:22 Something besides decreased heart function
5:15 Very early medication abortion
6:15 Rule out ectopic pregnancy
7:15 42-day period
8:16 Okay if probably in the uterus
9:00 FDA recommendations on inferior vena cava filters
10:00 Removal is needed
11:00 Less likely to be removed in older people
12:18 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 1, 2024

This week's topics include fans and core body temperature, strategies to help patients with prescription drug prices, hearing loss and Parkinson's, and oral health, frailty and death.

0:45 Oral health and other health outcomes
1:45 22,000 participants
2:45 Cancer, cognitive dysfunction related
3:20 Electric fans and core temperature in older adults
4:20 Aging population and climate change
5:18 Hearing loss and Parkinson's disease
6:18 Categorize severity of hearing loss
7:20 Mechanism for hearing and PD?
8:21 Current strategies to help with high prescription drug costs
9:25 Major barrier to optimal medical management
10:21 Artificially high prices for generics
11:25 Many patients don't know about
12:32 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, October 25, 2024

This week's topics include metformin and congenital abnormalities, best meds for opioid use disorder treatment, deprescribing for patients with dementia, tobacco use among U.S. youth.

0:37 Tobacco use among U.S. youth
1:34 One in 10 high school students
2:34 How much it costs to use tobacco
3:06 Paternal metformin use in men and offspring malformations
4:08 Corrected data showed no risk
5:08 Those who used metformin older
6:10 Treatment of opioid use disorder
7:10 Which less likely to result in discontinuation
8:10 Mortality very low
9:03 Can we deprescribe in persons with dementia
10:03 Mailer to patient, physician or usual care

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, October 18, 2024

This week's topics include transplanting kidneys from HIV+ donors; identifying who's at risk for preeclampsia; rainfall and mortality; and a new agent for MASH.

0:49 Rainfall events and daily mortality analysis
1:49 How quickly might such an event recur?
2:50 Some of the mechanisms
3:44 HIV+ kidney donors
4:49 Been doing in South Africa since 2008
5:10 Identifying risk for preeclampsia
6:12 High systemic vascular resistance
7:14 Did not predict late term
8:10 Noninvasive test
8:21 Treatment of MASH
9:20 Death of liver cells and inflammation
10:30 Increased rate of COVID-19 infection
11:37 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 27, 2024

This week's topics include a report on cancer in the U.S., MRI and prostate cancer diagnosis, ultraprocessed foods and diabetes risk, and happy moods and happy hearts.

0:42 U.K. Biobank study on happiness and heart disease risk
1:42 Indirect and direct effects
2:42 Enhance well-being
3:00 Ultraprocessed foods and diabetes risk
4:00 NOVA classification for foods
5:00 10% decrease if you replace
6:00 Do men with elevated PSA need prostate biopsy?
7:00 Followed over four years
8:00 Cost effective compared with biopsy
8:25 AACR report on cancer
9:25 More than 2 million new cases of cancer in 2024
10:25 40% attributable to preventable risk factors
11:25 Understand pathways by which cancer develops
12:42 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 20, 2024

This week's topics include youth, opioids and EMS, good news for women with triple-negative breast cancer, a lack of benefit of rapid malaria tests, and risk related to high-dose amphetamines in adults with ADHD.

0:40 High-dose prescription amphetamines and psychosis
1:40 Compared to hospitalizations for other conditions
2:40 Stay under dose of 40mg
3:30 Characteristics of opioid overdose, EMS encounters and U.S. youth
4:30 Almost all in 18-24 years of age group
5:31 60% occurred at home
6:32 Rapid malaria test and child mortality
7:35 Each associated with increased antimalarial drugs
8:35 Issue with the study
9:15 Triple-negative breast cancer treatment
10:15 Pembrolizumab or not
11:18 Adverse events related to treatment
12:36 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 13, 2024

This week's topics include emissions from inhalers, time to reimbursement for drugs from approval, behavior after a false-positive mammogram, and RSV vaccination and hospitalization.

0:44 Time from approval to reimbursement for drugs
1:43 Over 290 new drugs and all regulatory bodies
2:48 Quixotic in U.S.
3:10 False-positive results on mammogram and return
4:10 Varied based on ethnicity
5:10 Not coming back after false positive
6:10 Higher out-of-pocket costs
6:44 RSV vaccination and hospitalizations
7:44 Individuals hospitalized with acute respiratory illness
8:44 Receive a single dose
9:22 Inhaler impact on environment
10:22 U.K. pales in comparison to U.S.
11:22 Dry powder and soft mist inhaler alternative
12:16 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 6, 2024

This week's topics include semaglutide and mortality, beta blockers after MI, FIT test comparison, and 30-year CVD prediction with a blood test in women.

0:41 A single blood test for CVD in women over 30 years
1:40 Each biomarker provided additive information
2:41 Every quintile increase
3:31 Semaglutide and ID risk
4:31 COVID-19 emerged during study
5:32 Reduced all-cause mortality 19%
6:34 Stopping beta blockers after heart attack
7:35 Increased risk of chest pain
8:35 Should be looked at earlier?
8:57 Comparing FIT tests
9:57 Huge variation in the tests
10:57 Will require more colonoscopies
11:52 Repeated testing improves sensitivity
12:48 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 30, 2024

This week's topics include myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination, a new medicine for menopausal symptoms, heat-related deaths in the U.S., and wastewater surveillance for predicting COVID outbreaks.

0:47 COVID vaccination and myocarditis
1:49 25 to 31 years of age, most of them male
2:49 Don't be dissuaded from vaccination
3:01 Long-term care facilities and wastewater surveillance
4:01 Compared with clinical picture
5:03 Negative predictive value really good
6:06 Heat-related deaths in the U.S.
7:06 People who are employed where heat is an issue
8:07 Shifting the workday
8:26 Treating vasomotor symptoms in menopause
9:26 Took a long time to accrue
10:32 Fifty percent reduction
11:32 Benefits to hormone therapy
12:40 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 23, 2024

This week's topics include tranexamic acid for liver resection, EDTA for chelation therapy, suicidality among spouses of people with cancer, and do amino acids protect kidneys during surgery.

0:41 Amino acids for kidney protection during heart surgery
1:40 Intravenous infusion begun at time of surgery
2:40 May increase blood flow
3:20 Use of tranexemic acid during liver resection
4:20 Blood loss similar
5:20 Can reduce blood loss in seepage
6:00 EDTA chelation therapy in people with diabetes and heart attack
7:00 Either placebo or EDTA over 40 weeks
7:46 Suicidality in spouses of patients with cancer
8:45 Suicide attempt higher
9:45 Within a year after diagnosis
10:45 How to improve screening
11:54 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 16, 2024

This week's topics include mortality rates in Anglophone countries, computer interfaces for communication in people with ALS, plant and animal fat and mortality, and skin reactions to antibiotics.

0:41 Two reports on brain-computer interface
1:41 Implant just below the skull
2:32 Mortality in the U.S. in comparison with other Anglophone countries
3:31 Between ages of 45 and 84
4:31 Lower deaths prior to 45
5:31 Females don't fare as well regardless
5:45 Oral antibiotics and skin reactions
6:45 Three times higher for sulfonamides
7:45 Older age associated with polypharmacy
8:15 Plant and animal fat intake and mortality
9:15 Animal fat conferred increased risk
10:15 Biological plausibility
11:15 Beans and legumes
12:37 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 9, 2024

This week's topics include methotrexate for knee osteoarthritis, impact of new CVD risk calculator, blood tests for Alzheimer's, and evaluating squamous cell cancers.

0:36 Blood tests for Alzheimer's
1:35 Predicting with a blood test accurate 91%
2:35 Less likely than just demographic data
3:30 Squamous cell carcinoma
4:30 Standardize guidelines
5:34 Common cancer excluded from tumor registries
6:15 CVD risk assessment
7:15 Less diabetes secondary to statins
8:15 7.5% risk should be modified?
9:20 Methotrexate for knee osteoarthritis
10:21 Addition did decrease knee pain
11:25 With elevated C-reactive protein
12:28 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 2, 2024

This week's topics include smoking and semaglutide, fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries, bilateral mastectomy, and HIV in women.

0:41 Firearm injuries
1:41 252,000 injuries
2:40 Suffered 61.5% of firearm assaults
3:15 Another indication for semaglutide?
4:15 Tobacco use disorder
5:15 Both with and without obesity
6:10 HIV prevention in women
7:10 Adolescent and young women in Africa
8:10 Coincidence of other STIs
8:44 Benefits of bilateral mastectomy
9:45 According to surgical approach
10:50 About 7% recurrence regardless
11:55 Table this strategy
12:55 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 26, 2024

This week's topics include a monoclonal antibody for ulcerative colitis, the impact of cash payments on health care utilization by low-income people, an AI model to manage diabetes, and sleep and chronic disease.

0:38 Cash payments and health care utilization
1:38 Biomarker measurement
2:38 No effect on COVID-19 vaccination
3:38 Enable healthier choices
4:38 Didn't offset costs of program
5:03 AI and primary diabetes care
6:04 Compared with PCPs and endocrinology residents
7:04 Only four weeks of follow-up
7:25 Sleep patterns and risk of chronic disease
8:25 Fractured sleep positively associated
9:25 Longer follow-up needed
10:25 Irregularity and duration
11:01 Antibodies to treat ulcerative colitis
12:05 IV use of antibody
13:28 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 19, 2024

This week's topics include nasal sprays and URIs, Paxlovid in prevention, endometriosis and ovarian cancer, and diabetes after COVID-19.

0:53 COVID-19 infection and Paxlovid
1:49 Did not reduce infection risk
2:51 Not noticed a difference with variants
3:14 Nasal sprays, behavioral interventions for URI
4:14 Stress management might help
5:14 Reduced antibiotic use
6:14 Stress reduction makes us less susceptible
6:35 Type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 infection
7:32 Attacks pancreas and accelerates progression
8:32 Same thing in adults?
8:42 Endometriosis and ovarian cancer risk
9:44 597 women with ovarian cancer
10:45 If they have same origin, it might provide insight
11:45 Arises in the fallopian tubes
12:35 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 12, 2024

This week's topics include a new agent to help prevent kidney transplant rejection, more effective medications to reduce kidney disease and CVD in people with diabetes, use of nicotine pouches nationally, and acceptability of hospital-at-home care.

0:40 Hospital-at-home care
1:40 Recover faster at home
2:41 Nicotine pouch use nationally
3:41 Assessed smoking status
4:41 Mouth lesions possible
5:32 Medication to mitigate multiple diseases in people with diabetes
6:33 Reduced death by cardiac causes by 30%
7:33 Few patients received both medications
8:08 A monoclonal antibody to help kidney transplant rejection
9:08 Nine infusions of the antibody
10:08 Might have to take over the long haul
11:08 More precise antibody possible
12:24 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 5, 2024

This week's topics include avoiding chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, predictive value of screening EKGs, use of medicines to treat opioid use disorder, and trends in CVD in the U.K.

0:40 Trends in CVD in 22 million people in the U.K.
1:40 Overall decrease in some by 30%
2:40 Atrial fibrillation most common now
3:40 Some associated with aging
4:22 Routine screening EKGs
5:22 Is an association with subsequent CVD
6:20 Does not imply routine screening EKG
6:40 Preventing chemotherapy-induced neuropathy
7:40 Two types of exercise and treatment as usual
8:41 Something that can be routinely done
9:40 Continuing exercise may help
10:14 Treatment for opioid use disorder
11:15 55% receive any treatment at all
12:15 Barriers as part of health care system
13:16 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 28, 2024

This week's topics include six biotypes for anxiety and depression, overuse of aspirin for primary prevention, managing gestational diabetes, and medicines and acute liver injury.

0:33 Overuse of aspirin for primary prevention
1:32 Discouraged use in those over 75
2:32 Our listeners need to talk with their doctor
2:52 Gestational diabetes management
3:52 Increased C-sections, macrosomia
4:52 Start in pre-pregnancy period
5:52 Eight- to 10-fold risk
6:54 Acute liver injury and medications
7:54 Seventeen medications associated
8:54 Six biotypes in depression and anxiety
9:54 Task and no-task brain scans
10:52 Large number of things contribute
11:52 MRI before and after treatment
12:41 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 21, 2024

This week's topics include expanding the window for treating ischemic stroke, new agents for treating ischemic stroke, managing obesity in children and adolescents, and preventing surgical site infections.

0:36 Expanding the window for treating ischemic stroke
1:33 Complete recovery 10% more
2:33 Routine CT scanning
2:44 Comparing two agents to treat ischemic stroke
3:44 More in the reteplase group had hemorrhage
4:45 Dosing based on heart attack experience
5:24 Preventing surgical site infections
6:24 Up to a year after cardiac surgery
7:24 May look for staph
7:44 Interventions for high BMI in children and adolescents
8:46 Give a B recommendation to behavioral interventions
9:45 Don't address bariatric surgery
10:45 Policy changes needed
11:45 Increased risk of early death
12:12 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 14, 2024

This week's topics include eye training to prevent myopia worsening, nurse intervention to manage blood pressure post-stroke, preoxygenation before intubation, and risk of a second cancer after CAR-T.

0:40 Cancers subsequent to CAR-T therapy
1:40 Only one person with a T cell cancer
2:40 Must do large populations to identify risk
3:15 Preoxygenation before intubation
4:15 More hypoxemia in oxygen mask group
5:15 Takes a little more time
6:09 Can nurses control blood pressure post stroke in Black and Hispanic patients
7:10 450 participants who'd had a stroke
8:10 Nurses talked about lifestyle in addition to blood pressure
8:50 Training eyes to slow down myopia in kids
9:50 Occurring globally
10:50 Myopia is nearsightedness
11:50 Employ computers to treat
12:31 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 7, 2024

This week's topics include stepped palliative care, active surveillance for prostate cancer, artery inflammation as a predictor of cardiovascular events, and diets and medicine in IBS.

0:44 Inflammation in arteries and cardiovascular events
1:41 Over 40,000 patients
2:45 More inflamed arteries, the more the risk
3:00 IBS, diet and medication
4:00 Three arms: two diets and optimized medication
5:03 Diets both better than medication
6:04 Wheat-free and gluten-free
7:00 Long-term outcomes in prostate cancer with active surveillance
8:04 Ten-year incidence of metastasis
9:11 Stepped palliative care for patients with lung cancer
10:12 Those with a ten point or greater decline
11:12 Over 24 weeks
12:18 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 31, 2024

This week's topics include fluoride in pregnancy and outcomes in children, contagion of mental illness, statins in old and very old people, and hypertension after kidney donation.

0:48 Statins in old and very old
1:48 Increased risk for muscle pain or liver disease
2:48 Started on a statin
3:20 Maternal fluoride levels and neurobehavior in children
4:22 Increase in biomarker results in increased issues in kids
5:20 Parents score behavioral issues
6:16 Hypertension after kidney donation
7:18 Does hyperfiltration compromise?
8:19 Liver attempts to regenerate
9:10 Are mental health issues transmissible?
10:10 713,000+ in cohort
11:10 These issues cluster
12:10 Normalization of mental disorders
13:17 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 24, 2024

This week's topics include early diagnosis and treatment of COPD and asthma, use of GLP-1 agonists in adolescents and young adults, implications of new lung function equations, and benefits of cancer drug trials.

0:40 Implications of race adjustment in lung function equations
1:40 Over 12 million reclassified for lung function
2:40 Can be other confounders
3:40 Would differentiate race
4:40 There are race-based conditions
5:00 Survival benefit with cancer clinical trials
6:00 Quality of the trials
7:00 Routinely apply guidelines
7:30 Dispensing GLP-1 agonists to young
8:30 Three approved for Type 2 diabetes in adolescents
9:30 600% increase in use
10:05 Early diagnosis of COPD and asthma
11:05 Refer to pulmonologist
12:33 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 17, 2024

This week's topics include a new agent for high triglycerides, the impact of low testosterone on mortality in men, ultra-processed foods and mortality, and cardiovascular risk assessment improvement.

0:40 Improving assessment of cardiovascular risk
1:40 Trip through electronic medical record
2:40 Some cost and side effects
3:00 Association of ultra-processed foods with mortality
4:00 4% higher all-cause mortality
5:00 Surprised that cancer and CVD mortality not increased
6:00 Evidence in other studies for demyelination
6:36 New treatment for high triglycerides
7:40 Injected medication
8:40 Doesn't lower cholesterol
9:00 Low testosterone in men and mortality
10:00 Low testosterone increased mortality
11:04 Less binding globulin?
12:55 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 10, 2024

This week's topics include mortality among U.S. youth, updated breast screening guidelines, treating large strokes, and sickle cell treatment.

0:34 Sickle cell treatment
1:34 Take out progenitor cells
2:34 Side effects of treatment and cost
3:32 Significantly decreases survival
3:43 Racial and ethnic differences in mortality in U.S. youth
4:45 About twice as high among other ethnicities
5:48 Black youth eight times more likely to die of asthma
6:40 Treatment of very large strokes
7:40 333 patients within six hours
8:45 Practice changing
9:00 Breast cancer screening guidelines update
10:00 Older women and additional screening not known
11:00 Don't apply to some women
12:05 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 3, 2024

This week's topics include Medicare negotiation on drugs and a loophole, neomycin for preventing respiratory viral infections, diagnostic error in mental health conditions, and use of two diabetes medications together and subsequent chronic disease risk.

0:45 Two of the newer medicines for diabetes taken together
1:40 Over 15,000 people
2:40 Seem to have so many global impacts
3:05 Medicare drug price negotiation loophole
4:05 Very impressive results
5:05 Federal appeals court ruling
6:05 Exempts from negotiations
6:23 Diagnostic error in mental health
7:23 Mistake a physical illness
8:25 Neomycin intranasally
9:25 Sars-CoV2 and influenza A
10:25 Reduced infection and transmission
11:20 Widely available and generic
12:24 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 26, 2024

This week's topics include autism rates among males and females, consequences of atrial fibrillation, antipsychotics among those with dementia, and antibiotic use utilizing AI.

0:41 Atrial fibrillation and its complications
1:41 Increased risk factors
2:41 Treat with medication or ablation
3:30 Autism heritability in males and females
4:30 No support for environmental shared factors
5:33 Tried to account for with modeling
6:23 Antibiotics, AI and common infections
7:23 Fifty different variables
8:23 Patient specific factors
9:10 Antipsychotics and dementia
10:10 New antipsychotic use increased risk of pneumonia
11:10 Care providers
12:42 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 19, 2024

This week's topics include a new drug for early Parkinson's, Paxloivd and Covid, pragmatic model for chronic kidney disease, and lymph node removal and breast cancer.

0:45 Breast cancer and lymph node removal
1:47 Usual care survival 90%
2:45 One percent over five years
3:00 Rate of hospitalization in chronic kidney disease
4:00 Outcomes the same
5:01 Usual care pretty good
6:01 Engage physicians and patients early
6:20 Paxolvid indications
7:20 Twelve or thirteen days to resolution
8:23 Early Parkinson's medicine
9:23 12 months of treatment
10:23 Should enroll more?
11:57 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 12, 2024

This week's topics include decolonizing patients and infections in the hospital, delirium and dementia, brain size over the last few decades, and are biosimilars cheaper for patients.

0:35 Brain size over the last few decades
1:35 About a 7% greater volume
2:35 Bigger brains start in early childhood
3:55 Biosimilar costs
4:53 Cost about 10% higher
5:45 Does delirium predict dementia?
6:46 Recurrent delirium with dose response
7:47 Programs to reduce delirium in older patients
8:51 Multidrug resistant organisms, iodine and chlorhexidine
9:52 Decolonize every five days
11:04 Don't need surveillance
12:27 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 5, 2024

This week's topics include deep learning to help predict cardiovascular events molnupiravir in, immunocompromised people with COVID-19, sleep and exercise, and oral steroids in preschool wheeze.

0:42 Molnupiravir, COVID-19 and immunocompromised people
1:42 Samples up to 44 days post-treatment
2:42 Causes mutagenesis
3:44 Ongoing surveillance?
4:14 Oral steroids in preschool wheeze
5:21 Greater reduction in wheezing severity score
6:21 How often it recurs?
6:33 Use of machine learning to estimate CVD risk with radiographs
7:35 Compared with 2000+ with known risk
8:35 Routine chest X-ray informs risk
9:35 Exercise and sleep quality
10:35 Physically active at beginning and 10 years later
12:12 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 29, 2024

This week's topics include differences in donor heart acceptance by race and gender, medication for self-managed abortion, aspirin and MASLD, and diagnosing Parkinson's with a skin biopsy.

0:40 Aspirin for fatty liver disease
1:40 Low dose aspirin for six months
2:40 Primary prevention?
3:03 Donor heart acceptance
4:03 Just shy of 14,000 donors
5:03 More likely to have antibodies
5:45 Diagnosing Parkinson's with skin biopsy
6:45 Could detect in between 92-100%
7:45 Diagnosis of Lewey body dementia
8:45 Medication abortion before and after Dobbs
9:46 Provisions increased
10:46 Sued the FDA
12:12 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 22, 2024

This week's topics include advances in treating early breast cancer, stroke after COVID-19 vaccination, anti-seizure meds during pregnancy and ASD, and oxygen targets in critically ill people.

0:38 Stroke after bivalent COVID-19 vaccine
1:35 No increased risk with this vaccine alone
2:32 Public messaging
2:41 Personalized oxygen settings for patients in the ICU
3:41 Lower level resulted in more days alive without life support
4:41 Lowering blood glucose?
5:42 Verify in randomized trials
6:43 Risk of autism in kids in moms on anti-seizure meds during pregnancy
7:43 Increased risk whether on medicine or not
8:46 Treatment of early breast cancer
9:46 CDK4/6 inhibitor
10:46 No significant side effects
11:37 Younger than median age at diagnosis
12:16 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 15, 2024

This week's topics include new screening methods for colorectal cancer, a drug coated balloon for blocked stents in the heart, delta 8 THC use, and mortality and treated ADHD.

0:39 How to treat blocked stents
1:40 Over a year does reblockage occur?
2:40 Bypass may be more durable in some
3:00 Treating ADHD with medicines and mortality
4:00 Mean age at diagnosis 17.4 years
5:00 Still questions remain
6:00 6% of youths worldwide
6:25 THC and marijuana use in youths in the US
7:25 About 11% use over preceding year
8:25 Similar to tianeptine and kratom?
9:10 Screening for colorectal cancer
10:10 Genomic alterations detection
11:10 Stool sample collected
12:06 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 8, 2024

This week's topics include microplastics in arteries, deaths due to alcohol use, obesity and its consequences, and steps for the sedentary.

0:31 Microplastics and arteries
1:31 Looked at plaque in 304 patients
2:31 May have to do with baseline risk factors
3:31 More questions than answers
3:42 Worldwide obesity and risk of developing Type 2 diabetes
4:42 Obesity accelerating worldwide
5:42 Identify and stop the process
6:42 Underweight birthweight and overweight at 20
7:44 Steps in the sedentary
8:44 Total daily steps and sedentary lifestyle
9:45 About three miles
10:07 Deaths due to alcohol use
11:08 58 alcohol-related conditions
12:08 Dramatic increase over a short period of time
13:18 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 1, 2024

This week's topics include Medicaid expansion and healthcare workers, brain impact of long Covid, a drug for severe food allergies, and cardiac rehabilitation.

0:41 Cognition and memory after Covid
1:41 More severe disease leads to greater deficits
2:41 Severity related to strain of virus
3:26 Cardiac rehabilitation
4:26 The earlier the better
5:26 Automatic referral and navigator
6:30 Medicaid expansion and healthcare workers
7:30 Lower income workers on Medicaid
8:31 Bigger safety net
9:31 Trickle down is not a good strategy
10:00 Antibody to IgE
11:00 Children and adolescents with food allergy
12:00 Study participants admired
12:41 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 23, 2024

This week's topics include a longitudinal study of Alzheimer’s markers, CAR-T cells for autoimmunity, methods of illegal opioid overdose, and safety and efficacy of telemedicine abortion.

0:35 Method of use in drug overdose deaths in 2022
1:35 Smoking most common
2:30 Smoking, snorting, injection and ingestion
3:20 Effectiveness and safety of telemedicine abortion
4:20 99.8% NOT followed by an adverse event
5:20 Multiple groups benefit
6:20 Women who experience unintended pregnancy
7:00 New therapy for autoimmune diseases
8:00 How expensive are they?
8:36 Biomarkers previous to Alzheimer's
9:36 Tau and total tau
10:36 Very long follow-up
11:36 Back up treatment very early on
12:41 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 16, 2024

This week's topics include allocating donor hearts, an online program for long Covid, electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation, and reversing anticoagulation in hemorrhagic strokes.

0:40 Who gets a donor heart?
1:41 Mechanical support system
2:42 Assess new guidelines
3:32 E-cigarettes in helping people stop smoking
4:32 Validated abstinence at 6 months
5:32 Doesn't stop nicotine use
6:32 Are deleterious effects
7:01 Reversing anticoagulation in hemorrhagic stroke
8:01 Almost 10,000 such strokes
9:01 Not as much of a barrier to reverse
9:20 Online program for long Covid
10:20 Health related quality of life outcome
11:20 Applied generally?
12:20 Related to deconditioning
13:06 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 9, 2024

This week's topics include a new treatment for NASH, human milk for preterm infants, psoriasis treatment, and managing gout with uric acid levels.

0:34 NASH treatment
1:34 Two dosages and placebo
2:32 Similar incidence of adverse events
3:32 Minor effects on heart or bone?
4:15 Psoriasis treatment
5:15 Decreased plaques by 75%
6:05 Human milk, preterm infants, neurodevelopment
7:05 Black infants 52%
8:07 Decreased necrotizing enterocolitis
9:14 Uric acid levels and gout flares
10:15 3600 patients with gout
11:15 Keep levels at five or below
12:15 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 2, 2024

This week's topics include a possible cause for long Covid, screening for language disorders and delays in kids, costs of healthcare when someone with cancer gets switched to a high deductible plan, and diabetes remission health impact.

0:33 Long Covid and the complement system
1:33 Top biomarkers identified
2:32 Which complement pathway involved?
3:35 Identify those at risk
3:50 Remission of type 2 diabetes and health outcomes
4:50 Reduced rate of CKD and CVD
5:50 1200 to 1800 kCal per day
6:50 Direct trial in UK
7:03 USPSTF screening for speech and language disorders
8:03 No studies evaluate screening
9:03 Different in different cultures
9:16 Out of pocket costs for patients with cancer and high deductible plans
10:17 Over 2700 in high deductible group
11:15 Sacrificed non-cancer and primary care
12:25 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 26, 2024

This week's topics include closing the women's health gap, how seniors use the health care system, cancer after weight loss, and PFAS guidelines for clinicians.

0:30 Cancer diagnosis after weight loss
1:30 Two times the frequency
2:33 PFAS guidance for clinicians
3:30 Half-life of eight or more years
4:31 Increased preeclampsia
5:31 Screen water supply
6:23 Understanding how older adults use health care system
7:23 Overdiagnosis, hypervigilance, indicated?
8:23 World Economic Forum on women's health gap
9:23 Avoid 24 million life-years lost
10:23 Ischemic heart disease, tuberculosis
11:21 Women pay more for health insurance
12:34 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 19, 2024

This week's topics include a look at congenital syphilis, a way of treating some people with congestive heart failure, palliative care in two different populations, and breast cancer outcomes over fifty years.

0:32 Long term outcomes in heart failure
1:32 Defibrillator with pacing
2:30 Like putting in a pacemaker
2:50 Congenital syphilis
3:50 Consequences for neonate dire
4:50 Time sensitive treatment
5:50 Almost 4000 cases in 2022
6:30 Breast cancer mortality in last fifty years
7:30 Hormone negative screening very important
8:15 Palliative care in two populations
9:15 Nurse intervention with social worker effective
10:15 Needs to be resourced
11:15 Resistance by some clinicians
12:30 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 12, 2024

This week's topics include a proteomic approach to cancer screening, vegetarian diet and COVID-19 risk, performance of dialysis centers, and medical errors in hospitalized patients.

0:40 Incentivizing dialysis centers
1:40 Over 1000 dialysis centers
2:40 How to adjust for neighborhood?
3:41 Comprehensive approach needed
4:00 Vegetarian diet and COVID-19 risk
5:03 Importance of diet and disease
6:00 Immunity and foods
6:12 Diagnostic errors in hospitalized patients
7:12 Problems assessing the patient
8:18 Novel proteomics-based cancer screening
9:18 10 proteins with high accuracy
10:18 Different in men and women
11:18 Most useful biomarkers the low concentration ones
12:05 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 5, 2024

This week's topics include a new medication for atrial fibrillation, a comprehensive approach to prepregnancy through early childhood, opening the blood-brain barrier for an Alzhiemer's antibody treatment, and management of TMD.

0:47 Temporomandibular disorders and management
1:47 10cm visual analog scale
2:47 In subtypes expect some variation
3:36 Which relieves pain and which improves function
4:27 Opening the blood brain barrier and using an antibody for Alzheimer's
5:27 Applied on one side of brain
6:27 Does it reverse or halt dementia?
7:00 A multidomain intervention in preconception through early childhood
8:00 Was helpful in childhood outcomes
9:00 Don't know which factor was most effective
10:00 How to assess factors separately
10:15 IV drug for early atrial fibrillation
11:15 Phase two study
12:43 End

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